When The Cat's Away The Mice Will Play
by Shade Penn
Summary: Or; when Will's military leave is up, Sarah is left to deal with the mechs coming to assess her. This was something she certainly never saw happening. Sequel to Duplicity


**Starscream**

Sarah blew a stand of hair out of her face as she held Annie's car seat in one hand and opened the door to her home with the other. Once her hand was free, she brushed the strand back and couldn't help but think how Will was doing.

She knew he was doing fine of course, because his body _wasn't_ 'real' and he couldn't get hurt, but it still made her worry to think about it. And now she had a whole new set of things to worry about now that his Creators had found out he was still alive.

Sarah knew what she was getting into the moment she said 'I do' at the altar, but while most spouses had to deal with things like thinking about if your parent-in-laws like you, she had to worry about if her own parent-in-laws were ever gonna try and kill her. Will's Sire _really_ didn't seem to like her and now that she was without her husband-shaped shield, she wondered if he was gonna try something.

Then again, he'd have to contend with an angry offspring and further damaging his slowly rebuilding relationship with him if he did.

The blonde woman was setting Annie's car seat on the table when she heard the sound of an engine and wondered who was outside before seeing the jet landing outside her window and she scolded herself for completely forgetting about Will's _Carrier_.

And while she mostly avoided him the times he _had_ come by to see Will, she knew she'd have to break it to him since Will was back on active military duty.

"Will?" he called and Sarah sighed before making her way out back through the front door, the seeker's faceplate twisting in disappointment. "Oh, it's you. Where's Will?"

"He went back to active duty since his time on leave is over." Sarah replied patiently.

"When will he be back then?" Starscream asked _im_patiently.

"I'm not sure, he usually just calls or drops in to tell me when." Sarah explained. "Now, if that's all-"

"It's not." Starscream interjected. "I have yet to properly meet my grandsparkling as of yet."

During those times he _had_ come by, it was always because he'd wanted to see Will and seemed to forget about her or Annie and it was just her luck that he would ask _now_ when her husband wasn't here.

Sarah resisted sighing again as this wasn't a bad request, it's just that she took the 2 year old inside already. "Hold on a minute." She said before going back inside and lifted the alert toddler out of her car seat, her small arms wrapping around Sarah as the woman went back outside. "Here she is."

"What is her designation?" Starscream asked.

"Her what?" Sarah asked blankly before recognition crossed her face. "Oh, her name, right; it's Annabelle Amaranth Lennox."

"Funny isn't it how both she and Will have taken _your_ designation?" Starscream questioned and Sarah narrowed her eyes and at the subtle slur.

"Hey, it's because none of _you_ have a surname that Will took mine, _gladly_ took it I might add." She said hotly.

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of the fact you two love each other and all that," Starscream replied flippantly, "and all things considered, I grudgingly admit you _are_ the best candidate I've seen for a prospective mate."

Sarah felt her brow start to tick at how he was talking. "And _you_ seem to forget that I already _am_ mated to him."

"Yes, but for my own peace of processor I'm thinking you're not." The seeker retorted and Sarah this time did let out her sigh of frustration.

Yes, because while the mech was all for getting his relationship to Will repaired, he'd neglected to actually get to know _her_. And she was actually fine with that because she knew from Will's own account how Decepticons looked down on organic beings. Heck, he'd admitted _he_ even did before finding his adoptive parents.

But this just seemed like Starscream was still in denial about it.

"Fine, whatever floats you're boat." She deadpanned and he gave her a strange look and rolled her eyes.

"Let me hold her." The seeker demanded as he held out a servo and Sarah froze.

_"No way_." She said coldly.

Starscream glared at her. "Do it or I'll squish you."

"You can't keep using that threat." Sarah muttered and reframed from adding 'if you're never going to actually _do_ it' or else she just _might_ end up being squished, the fact Will no doubt would be angry something the seeker must have also given thought to how he would get around his ire.

She's just an organic, she'd be dead in a little while anyway, probably would be one of the offered reasons.

The blonde woman eventually relented because she for a fact that Starscream _wouldn't_ hurt Annie, even if like her own reason for tolerating the mech's presence, it was because she was part Will. Her big gray optics being a dead give-away; you could almost _see_ the circuitry behind them if you bothered to look close enough.

Thankfully no one did.

"Fine, but you better not hurt her." Sarah growled as she placed the toddler into Starscream's servo, the mech shooting her a disgruntled look.

"I know _how_ to hold a sparkling you know." He said huffing and turned his attention to Annabelle.

"Not an organic one." Sarah muttered, but the seeker paid her no heed.

"Greetings Annabelle, do you know how unique you are?" Starscream questioned like he was sure the toddler could understand him. Annie giggled in response and the seeker looked smug, obviously deciding to take this as a sing the child _could_ understand him. "Just like your Sire, he gets his smarts from me you know."

Sarah _really_ resisted the urge to point out Will probably also got some of his _crazy_ from him too.

Instead she just kept a wary eye on the seeker holding her daughter.

* * *

**Breakdown**

Sarah was glad that she was almost home to get back to Annie, and while she knew that she could trust the babysitter, she was still a little unnerved by Starscream's sudden appearance the other day. What if he came back when she wasn't around? He knew he couldn't kill _her_, but he might not have such inclinations towards a sitter.

The thought made her put her foot down on the peddle just a little bit harder.

When she arrived back, the house was still standing, and the babysitter was still alive. "Thank you again for watching her." She said and gave the girl a tip _because_ she was still alive. It meant that nothing had happened. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Nope, Annie slept like a rock." The girl replied before thanking the woman and heading out to the bike and past the second car in the driveway.

Sarah made her way up the stairs and into her daughters room to peer into the crib, seeing her baby girl still sleeping and in no way looking like she was about to get up any time soon.

She abruptly froze as she realized something _very_ important. '_We don't own a second car, especially not a blue and white…_' she paused in her thoughts before they raced through anything that Will had told her about his 'friends' as she rushed out of the room, grabbing the baby monitor on her way down the stairs.

She felt panic set into annoyance and when she reached the driveway, she glared and crossed her arms. "You're Breakdown, right? Will told me about you."

Oh, he'd told her about _all_ of them.

"Really? Well he certainly never mentioned that he was _here." _The mech retorted and Sarah had a feeling she knew what this must be about.

"Will is _happy_ here," she said patiently, "his Creators have already accepted that. Eh, _sort of_ anyway." She muttered.

"Well I'm _not_ his Creator." Breakdown shot back.

Sarah tilted her head. "You know, Will mentioned how much of a paranoid and _nervous_ mech you are, but you don't seem like it now."

"A lot can change." The mech said darkly. "Seems like Will certainly has." And the blonde felt insulted by what he was implying.

Oh, _now_ she was starting to see the reason he'd came here. It wasn't _just_ to see the woman Megatron's son had chosen as a mate and scorn her for it with snide comments, it was because- "Are you actually _jealous_?" she hadn't meant to sound to snide, but that's the way it just came out.

The mech seemed to toss any discretion away as he suddenly transformed and got in real close, his faceplate twisted up in a fierce glare with his one optic. "I am _not_ jealous. Especially not of some short-lived _organic_."

Sarah would have flinched or have been freaked out if she wasn't so used now to mechs threatening her all the time. So as it were, she just crossed her arms, her expression deadpan. "If you weren't jealous of me, then you shouldn't have gotten so angry." She retorted smartly and saw one of Breakdown's servos clench, looking ready to squish her, but she could guess what was holding him back from doing her in. "Besides, you can't honestly be angry about the fact Will picked a mate, from what he told me your lot were all for him settling with someone."

"We meant one of _us_." The mech growled out. "Though when you _do_ die he'll need someone…"

"Hey!" Sarah shouted sharply as she didn't like where that train of thought was heading. It would likely end up with _her_ in an 'accident', most likely a car accident at that. "I'm not gonna be dying any time soon and you're forgetting one thing: _Annie_."

"Yes, her, you need another sparkling sitter, this one kept ignoring her."

Sarah felt her brow tick, at the fact this mech had been _watching her house_ and at the babysitter for not tending to Annie when she needed too. And while she didn't like bringing her daughter into any of this business, it still needed to be addressed. "Will _is_ Annie's father in case you were wondering," she began in annoyance, "and as such she's going to be living for a very long time too, and are you really sure you want to get settled with a kid to look after?"

Sarah also hated making it sound like raising a child was the worst thing in the world, but since she was trying to persuade Breakdown from mooning after her husband, she felt this was necessary.

Unfortunately it seemed that stubbornness was a trait all Decepticons apparently shared.

"I've come prepared femme, and that organic sparklings, even your techno organic will be an 'adult' when she reaches the human age of 18 and then will not be necessary to look after as she can care for herself by then." The mech replied.

Sarah paled but her lips pursed and she refused to give up. "That may be true, but she'll still want to see her father from time to time, what do you say to that?"

Okay, now she knew she was starting to get petty, but Will was _hers_ now and this mech had his chance before she was even _born_, let alone what stage the earth had been at back then.

"The techno organic is still Will's and I won't object to her presence." The mech replied.

Sarah let out a frustrated sigh before the sounds of crying rang through the baby monitor. She gave Breakdown a glare before rushing back into the house. The blonde made her way up the stairs and over to Annie's crib and picked up the toddler. "Don't cry honey, mommy's here now."

The crying soon died down and Annie sniffled before wrapping her chubby arms around Sarah's neck. The blonde woman walked over to the window after seeing a green lightshow outside, but she didn't see Breakdown anywhere and she let out another sigh.

He was gone, but she knew that this was in no way over.

* * *

**Optimus**

"Mrs. Lennox, may we speak?"

Sarah had to admit for all the mech's she'd dealt with in the past week that he was the politest. "You're the one from before, the one called Prime."

"Indeed I am." The red and blue Autobot replied.

Sarah moved off the porch after having gone outside to see a familiar green lightshow outside and thinking that Breakdown had back for 'round 2.' It turns out she was only half wrong. It _was_ a mech, but not the one she was expecting to see. "Okay then," she said before stopping close to him, "what is it?"

"Are you…happy with your current situation?"

Sarah blinked and was about to ask what kind of question that was before thinking that it sounded too rude. "I'm very happy, why?"

"As you are aware, you're…mate, is a Decepticon, and you might be in danger." The Prime replied.

Sarah chuckled. "Will wouldn't hurt me, he _loves_ me." She said before her expression turned serious. "Look, I know he's going to live well on after I'm gone, but we're making the best of what time we've got. He'll always have Annie to remember me by and I'll die knowing that _I'm_ going to be the only human he's ever loved and _going_ to love."

"You sound sure of this." Prime observed.

"I _am_ sure." Sarah replied. "I love him, I can look past the label and see the person behind it, and though that label _is_ the Decepticon one, I _know_ he's still a good person." She held up a hand to stop any rebuttal. "I know that Will isn't actually human, and the day he told me what he is, I could have done a lot of things, but I chose to stay with him, doesn't that count for anything?"

Sarah knew very well that whatever the Prime said probably wouldn't be sugar coated, and she'd dealt with enough remarks from her robotic in-laws to roll with the punches.

One didn't talk back to Megatron without having some bearings after all.

"Mrs. Lennox, you are living very dangerously," Prime began and Sarah gritted her teeth to stop any retorts she may want to say, "as living with _any_ Decepticon willingly is fool-harded from an Autobot perspective. But though you are human, I must commend your loyalty to your mate. If Decepticons can truly love, then Will proves it by staying with you here on Earth."

Sarah blinked in genuine surprise and straightened up. Well this was a surprise. "Um, thank you…?" she found the second part touching, but the first part she was still iffy on. "And…Will really isn't a bad person." She repeated.

It seemed important to _her_ to stress that fact.

"Will is the scion of the Decepticon leader and ex-second, though you may not like it, he _still_ possesses the same capacity for violence as they do." Prime said truthfully, and while the words weren't meant to have any sting in them and he was just observing how he'd seen other 'Cons, Sarah still felt the words cut her deeply.

The blonde knew that Will _could_ be dangerous; she remembered her human and much more approachable mother-in-law tell her of how they met Will in the first place. With a shotgun aimed at him for trespassing and him sneering down at the two humans from his high vantage point as Will still had his real body back then.

It ended though with the Epps' couple managing to become a deep emotional anchor in Will as his behavior started to change and he acted more 'human.' If they hadn't met him, then Sarah knew Will could have turned his time on Earth into something much worse.

For all the time on the planet, he _was_ the most advanced thing around; and too many times the woman's own imagination showed her scenarios that made her fear for her husband.

Wait, Sarah's eyes widened as a sudden thought came over her. "You…you're not going to tell anyone about Will being in the military are you?" Will had told her he had clearance to know about the Autobots, but he ignored them.

There was no guarantee that they would ignore _him_ if they ever saw him again.

The Prime didn't answer for a moment. "Mrs. Lennox, as long as your mate continues his neutrality we will not act hostilely, but should he ever return to the Decepticons, we will have no choice but to subdue him."

Sarah stayed silent for a moment as well while she considered this. In reality this wasn't much of a reassurance since Will was starting to patch things up with his Sire, one painfully awkward talk over his own at a time. But if it ever came down to it, she didn't know what Will would do if he was ever asked to talk about government secrets.

But didn't Will tell her about that Soundwave mech being used for spying? So that might make the aforementioned scenario only hypothetically. It still didn't bring her much assurance, but she'd take what she could get.

"I understand."

* * *

**Megatron**

Sarah had been expecting this, she really had. What with Starscream, and Breakdown showing up, she really did think it was only a matter of time before _he_ showed up.

And she was getting tired of having robots arrive unannounced, but he didn't exactly _go_ unannounced since she could hear him approaching and she wondered _why_ he'd bother with coming here since he must have known Will wasn't here. She briefly thought Megatron had come here _to_ kill her and get it over with, but even if he did that he knew any chance of reconciliation with Will would be thrown out the metaphorical window.

Sarah also wondered why a Decepticon parent would even try to speak with their wayward offspring, but she figured that even the epitome of evil must have _something_ to regret.

Though that wasn't to say the woman was going to _go out there_ where the mech could _see_ her. She'd still try to avoid this for as long as possible. Sarah made her way into Annie's room and closed the window as he landed.

Hopefully he'd think she wasn't home and go away.

Sarah kept quiet and glanced down at the still sleeping Annie before cringing at the sound of the roof to her house being creaked and she realized what Megatron was trying to do. She very well wasn't going to let him destroy her house! Sarah pulled back the curtain and pushed opened the window, leaning out of the pane to glare up at the mech who'd grabbed the edges of her house.

"Hey, my daughter is asleep in here, and if you wake her up there will be hell to pay for it!" she hissed quietly, knowing very well that he could hear her.

For a second, Megatron looked just spiteful enough for him to continue ripping the roof off the house, but settled for giving her a death glare since for the moment that was the only kind of 'death' he was able to give her. "One of these days organic…"

If she hadn't spent most of her time being threatened with death by giant robots squishing her, Sarah _would_ have been intimidated, but she was under no impression that they _really did_ want to kill her and very well _would_ if they could get away with it. Though even if Will's Creators couldn't get her, time would and her little blip on their lives would be over and they'd have Will back.

That was Sarah's thoughts on the matter, and really; it wasn't so farfetched to assume that, right?

"I know, you'll kill me, if time doesn't beat you to it first." Sarah muttered. It didn't hurt so much to think that Will wouldn't forget about her, or that Annie wouldn't forget her either, so dealing with her own mortality was a bit easier than it should have been.

She knew exactly what she had been getting into when Will had told her what he was after all.

"Was there a reason you came here? To speak with Will? To see Annie? To just throw another threat at me?" Sarah listed in a deadpan.

"Where is Will?"

"Gone back on military duty." Sarah replied grudgingly.

"And when will he be back?" The mech questioned and Sarah wondered if this was really happening. Were they actually having a _conversation?_

"I don't know; he usually just drops in whenever he can." Sarah answered.

Megatron scowled. "And he dares to criticize _me_ for never being around?"

"He is around." Sarah shot back.

"You _dare_ interrupt me?" The mech hissed and Sarah glared back.

"Oh I dare."

The two glared at each other, Sarah not backing down as she still knew he could kill her any moment if he wanted to. It would eventually come to a point where he would decide that he didn't need to have an organic talking back to _him_ and just end her, even at the risk of his slowly reforming relationship with his son.

Though when it came down to it, neither of them was ever going to like each other, even for Will's sake; they just couldn't. Sarah would always see Megatron as an abusive, neglectful mech, and Megatron would always see her as an annoying, unworthy of his son organic.

That's was just how it was.

* * *

**Will**

"Hi honey, how are you?" Will asked as he Sarah opened the door and Will was still wearing his army uniform. But even if they only had a few hours together, it would be enough.

Sarah flung her arms around Will's neck and planted a kiss on his lips. "You wouldn't _believe_ what happened while you were gone."

Will raised a brow. "What?" he asked curiously.

Sarah recalled the mechs visits and chuckled. "Well, it was certainly interesting to say the least." She said grabbing her husband's hand and pulled him inside the house. "But I guess I should I start at the beginning after you left..."


End file.
